WKBF (AM)

WKBF is a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, and carries a Spanish Regional Music format. The station's frequency is 1270kHz, and broadcasts at a power of 5kW. Its transmitter is located on 22nd Avenue (Old Colona Road) in Moline, alongside the Moline–East Moline border just off of 53rd Street and Avenue of the Cities.

WKBF is currently owned by Quad Cities Media.

History of 1270kHz

Early history

The history of the Rock Island allocation for WKBF dates to 1925, when businessman Calvin Beardsley purchased an experimental radio transmitter that operated in Cambridge, Illinois. He took the equipment and set it up at the rear of his store in Rock Island.

Beardsley went on the air in February 1925, using the callsign WHBF and broadcasting at 100 watts. The letters were said to stand for "Where Historic Blackhawk Fought."

The station moved to the Harms Hotel in Rock Island in 1932. In November of that year, Beardsley sold interest in his station to the John Potter family, which operated the Rock Island Argus. Later during the 1930s, the station moved to its current home at 1270kHz, and had its power boosted to 5kW.

History

WHBF-TV signed on the air on July 1, 1950. It is the fifth-oldest surviving station in Illinois and the oldest outside Chicago and next to the state of Iowa across the Mississippi River. It was owned by the Potter family, publishers of the Rock Island Argus along with WHBF radio (1270 AM, now WKBF and 98.9 FM, now WLKU).

WHBF-TV has been a CBS affiliate since its inception, but carried secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network. After DuMont's demise in 1956, WHBF shared ABC programming with WOC-TV (channel 6, now KWQC-TV) up to the time that the new station WQAD-TV (channel 8) signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1963. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.

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